Bruno Senna arrives in Bahrain amid a row over the presence of his HRT team on the grid for the season-opening race, with several leading figures in the sport moaning it has no place among the big boys.

Another complaint concerns Senna and his team-mate Karun Chandhok, neither of whom has any experience in Formula One or of driving the untested HRT car.

While Chandhok was hired because of the money his association could bring to the team, Senna's name clearly influenced his selection, although unlike Chandhok he has a good record in lower-level racing. He also has the ringing endorsement of his late uncle, Ayrton, who in 1993 famously said: "If you think I'm fast, just wait until you see my nephew".

But Senna is determined to forge a reputation of his own, albeit one aided by early advice from his uncle. "He was always my reference," he told the Daily Telegraph. "From the very beginning he used to tell me: 'Oh, you have to take this race line because this is the best way'. But I think the biggest thing he did was to nurture my competitiveness. We used to race everything. Everything. We used to race jet-skis on the water, karts, everything we could race we did."

Now the spotlight is on him. "I have not reached my maximum at all," he said. "There is so much to come. But I can only do it if I do it. It will probably take half a season to find the limit of the car."

He is also aware that the Brazilian public are unlikely to be patient and will demand instant success or unflattering comparisons will start. "We are spoilt, spoilt by having three multiple world champions. If you're not world champion, you're shit. But I don't feel any extra pressure because of my name.

"My uncle and I used to drive against each other on the track and I could do the same lap times that he could in go-karts and I was eight, so he obviously believed in my talent. But as much as people compare me to him, and want me to be him, I'm not. I'm just myself.

"What I have to do is just make sure that as a driver I take advantage of every single opportunity I have. I'm confident talent will shine through."

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